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NASA's Pioneer and Voyager Missions Carry Humanity's First Interstellar Messages

NASA's Pioneer and Voyager Missions Carry Humanity's First Interstellar Messages

NASA's Pioneer 10 and 11 probes, launched in the early 1970s, and the Voyager 1 and 2 probes, launched in 1977, carry humanity's first physical messages into interstellar space. The Pioneer probes are equipped with plaques designed by Carl Sagan and Frank Drake, which depict humanity and Earth's location. The Voyager probes carry Golden Records, also conceived by Sagan and Drake, containing sounds and images representing Earth's diversity of life and culture. These messages are intended for potential extraterrestrial civilizations or future human explorers. The Pioneer plaques are six-by-nine-inch gold-anodized aluminum plates with engraved pictorial messages, while the Voyager Golden Records are 12-inch gold-plated copper disks with encoded images and sounds. These missions marked a significant step in humanity's attempt to communicate beyond Earth and share information about our civilization.

Hubble Reveals 'Cat's Tail' Dust Cloud Around Beta Pictoris, Offering Insights into Early Solar Systems

Hubble Reveals 'Cat's Tail' Dust Cloud Around Beta Pictoris, Offering Insights into Early Solar Systems

New observations from the Hubble Space Telescope have provided a clearer picture of the 'Cat's Tail,' a trail of soot-dark dust around the young star Beta Pictoris, located 63 light-years away. The study, led by University of Arizona doctoral student Arin Avsar, indicates that this dust structure lies mostly flat against the sky from Earth's perspective and is composed almost entirely of porous, carbon-rich grains. These grains are believed to have formed from a collision between two Pluto-sized bodies. The Cat's Tail was initially discovered in 2024 by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, which detected it in mid-infrared light. Hubble's visible-light images, combined with Webb's infrared data and computer modeling, helped reconstruct the tail's three-dimensional arrangement, revealing its flat orientation and fluffy, carbon-rich composition.

SpaceX’s Starship soars into orbit after double catch thwarted by booster's water landing

SpaceX’s Starship soars into orbit after double catch thwarted by booster's water landing

SpaceX has lost out on its attempt to recover its entire Starship back at the Texas launch pad

SpaceX’s Starship soars into orbit after booster explosion prevents an unprecedented double catch

SpaceX’s Starship soars into orbit after booster explosion prevents an unprecedented double catch

SpaceX has lost out on its attempt to recover its entire Starship back at the Texas launch pad

SpaceX launches Starship on its boldest test flight yet as it aims for first double catch

SpaceX launches Starship on its boldest test flight yet as it aims for first double catch

SpaceX has launched Starship toward orbit on its boldest test yet, a 22-hour flight that aims to capture the entire rocket at the Texas pad

SpaceX’s Starship soars into orbit after double catch thwarted by booster malfunction

SpaceX’s Starship soars into orbit after double catch thwarted by booster malfunction

A booster malfunction has thwarted SpaceX’s attempt to recover its entire Starship back at the Texas launch pad

NASA's Voyager 1 closes in on a light-day in interstellar space for a new distance record

NASA's Voyager 1 closes in on a light-day in interstellar space for a new distance record

NASA's Voyager 1 is about to become humanity's first object to reach one light-day from Earth

NASA's Voyager 1 probe poised to achieve mega-distance milestone

NASA's Voyager 1 probe poised to achieve mega-distance milestone

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - NASA's Voyager 1 has already traveled farther than any other spacecraft from Earth since its launch in 1977.

SpaceX aims for first double catch of Starship in its most ambitious test flight yet

SpaceX aims for first double catch of Starship in its most ambitious test flight yet

SpaceX is launching Starship into orbit on its boldest test yet, a 22-hour flight that aims to recapture the entire rocket at the Texas pad

SpaceX’s attempt for a Starship double catch is thwarted when the booster ends up in Gulf of Mexico

SpaceX’s attempt for a Starship double catch is thwarted when the booster ends up in Gulf of Mexico

SpaceX’s attempt to recover its entire Starship rocket back at its Texas launch pad has been thwarted

Marquette Alumna Elise Rimsa Commands Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Cameras from JPL

Marquette Alumna Elise Rimsa Commands Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Cameras from JPL

Elise Rimsa, a Marquette University alumna (Arts '18), is working as an instrument operator and data operations engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Her responsibilities include commanding the engineering cameras aboard the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, which is approximately 140 million miles away on Mars. The imaging system is crucial for the rover's operations, including navigation, hazard avoidance, and sample collection on the Martian surface. The images captured by Rimsa and her team provide vital information for rover planners and scientists to determine the rover's next actions. The mission's primary goal is to search for signs of ancient life on Mars and collect rock and soil samples for potential return to Earth for detailed study. Rimsa emphasizes that space exploration is a collaborative effort involving hundreds of people at JPL.